Reel Chicago is a digital newspaper that covers the news in Chicago, LA and the Midwest on all aspects of feature film, TV, commercials, Indie films, agency news, music, post production, CGI, SFX, gaming. The content is original, written by industry experts and contributing Op Eds

Daily Planet destroys tech in hilarious brewery spot

By Joey Filer
Aug 2, 2018

38+

Daily Planet’s “Disconnect”

With a slapstick
amount of destruction,
the short proves that
having a delicious
beer with friends is
a truly cherished moment.

Daily Planet Ltd. created a heartfelt and hilarious spot for Pilsen’s Lo Rez Brewery and Taproom, titled Disconnect. According to Daily Planet President Scott Marvel, the brewery’s owners Dave Dahl and Kevin Lilly were in the corporate database tech world before “they decided to pull the plug, no pun intended.”

In 2016, Dahl and Lilly left the tech industry to turn their brewing hobby into a career. A year later, when Marvel and Daily Planet director Michael Gabriele met with Dahl and Lilly at Lo Rez to pitch ideas for a spot, the owners’ origin story served as a major inspiration.

Michael Gabriele

In contrast to smart technology that plugs people into the machine and diverts their attention from the present, sitting down and having a delicious beer with friends is a truly cherished moment.

When brainstorming on how to push that theme to an extreme, it dawned on Gabriele, “Wouldn’t it be fun if people are literally connected to their devices by chords?” He continues, “I took myself and imagined what it would be like if I was attached to all of the smart devices I use.”

That concept eventually evolved into a love story with a slapstick amount of technological destruction.

“Two people are trying to connect but they can’t because they are being held back by their devices,” says Gabriele.

DISCONNECTBY DAILY PLANET LTD.

Disconnect demonstrates that sharing craft beers at Lo Rez pulls people away from the clutter, and Marvel emphasizes that craft beer “is about the experience. The beer is there. The beer is great, but this is about the experience.”

Despite the immense in-house VFX capabilities available to the Daily Planet team, in the spirit of the narrative, they shot everything in camera on a Cannon C300 Mark II. Gabriele reflects, “The actors were dragging twenty pounds of equipment down the sidewalk.”

Scott Marvel

To further reinforce the authenticity of the spot, Disconnect was primarily filmed in Lo Rez’s Pilsen neighborhood and all of the destroyed technology was real.

As far as the popcorn being dragged down the street during rush hour, Gabriele laughs and says, “people were very intrigued at what we were trying to do because we had a producer pulling all of those devices, along with a generator in one cart, and someone pushing me in another.”

Overall, Disconnect marks a continuation in Daily Planet’s streak of personal short films and spots that effectively communicate its client’s brands.

“As a company,” Gabriele elaborates that “heartfelt visual storytelling with an emphasis on people and human interaction” is how they “approach each project.”

Disconnect hits a unique and difficult sweet spot. It utilizes outrageous slapstick humor, includes a personal and human love story about connection in the digital age, and showcases Lo Rez Brewing’s history, taproom, and beer.